Photo: Getty Images
Tory Lanez claims there's new evidence from his shooting case involving Megan Thee Stallion that proves he was "wrongfully convicted."
In a new interview NBC News aired on Thursday, December 18, the "Say It" singer, born Daystar Peterson, opened up about his appeal in his first interview from behind bars at California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo. His legal team is currently preparing to file a new appeal, which will include allegations of a Brady violation, after a judge denied their previous attempt last month. According to Cornell University's Legal Information Institute, the Brady rule requires prosecutors to turn over material that could be potentially favorable information to the defense.
“I believe not only that I was wrongfully convicted, but the amount of new evidence that has emerged since that trial, I think, has been overwhelming,” Peterson said. "When I talk about my case, I don't want it to be taken as me coming at her, because it's not that. I'm just asking for somebody in the system to look at my case and look at the evidence and ask if this was fair."
Peterson was arrested and charged with shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot after a house party in 2020. During the trial in 2022, Megan Thee Stallion testified that she needed surgery to remove bullet fragments from her foot. Her surgeon also testified about the operation, but the pieces of the bullet that were extracted were not submitted as evidence. During Meg's defamation trial against Milagro Cooper, Cooper’s attorney, Ronda Dixon told Peterson's attorney, Crystal Morgan, that a document was missing that confirmed the fragments were removed, placed in bags, and given to a security guard who worked at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles.
"The reason why this evidence is significant is because under Brady v. Maryland, we could have as a defense come up with a different alternative theory," Morgan said. "And we didn't have that chance, or perhaps we could have questioned the doctors differently when they are on stand to impeach them, because it does look suspicious."
Following his trial, the singer was convicted on all counts and sentenced to serve 10 years in prison. Peterson has been trying to appeal his conviction and sentence ever since, but has yet to succeed. However, Morgan believes the missing document could be a potential violation of the artist's due process rights under the Brady rule, and could help in his appeal. Peterson maintains that he's innocent and would never harm a woman. He also said that he's experienced trauma of his own after he was vilified in the media and stabbed multiple times in prison.
“I’ve never been violent towards a woman,” Peterson said. “I would never hit a woman, let alone shoot a woman.”
“There is definitely a very big misconception about me … that I’m this monster,” he added. “I feel like I was catapulted into this poster child for the unprotection of Black women, and it’s just so unlike me. And I’ve never really had a chance to express that. But you can look at my criminal record. I don’t have one, I never had one. And I feel like, you know, that connotation that I would do anything of this monstrous proportion is just completely incorrect, and it’s wrong.”
See what The Breakfast Club had to say about the situation below.
